Dorothy O Bowden

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 2:00pm at Hope Chapel, 908 N. Josephine Boyd St. in Greensboro, NC. There will be a visitation on Friday, April 16, 2021 from 4pm-8pm at Hanes-Lineberry Funeral Home at 515 N. Elm St., Greensboro, NC. A private family burial will take place on Sunday, April 18, 2021 at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Greensboro, NC. All flowers are welcomed and can be delivered to the funeral home on Friday.

Dorothy was born in Columbia, SC on October 17, 1924, she was the daughter of James Graham Oates and Mary Evelyn Hamrick Oates. She has one brother, James (Jim) Graham Oates, Jr. (deceased).

At the age of 10, Dorothy (Dot) moved with her family to Greensboro, NC where she attended school and graduated from Greensboro Senior High School in 1942. She was a member of the GHS choir and was an accomplished pianist. A longtime member of First Baptist Church, she enjoyed playing piano for Sunday School assemblies and worshipping with her parents and friends.

Dot met her husband, Donald Lee Bowden, in 1942 at a US Army soldier dance at the King Cotton Hotel during WWII. They married in 1945 and raised a family of 5-children. Donald Lee Bowden, Jr., James Robert (Bob) Bowden, Kathryn Ann (Kathy) Sheffield, Carol Evelyn Hodgin, and David Oates Bowden. All three sons predeceased their mother, as did her husband.

Dot has left this earthly world a legacy of kindness, graciousness, generosity, gentleness, and love. Anyone entering her home was greeted with a smile and offered a cool drink of refreshment and a listening ear. She loved relationships, which is the essence of life. She was a wonderful mother, always available to her children and always interested in their lives and wellbeing.

Dot leaves behind her two daughters, 6-grandchildren (one deceased), 5 great grandchildren, 2-nieces and 1-nephew, all of whom adore her.

Mother, Grandmother, GiGi (Greensboro Grandmother), friend and lover of Jesus, this woman of purity and goodness will forever be in our hearts. And while she is already deeply missed, her final desire was to go home to Jesus, to her eternal home, for rest.

(lyrics by Chris Rice)

With your final heartbeat,

Kiss the world goodbye.

Then go in peace and laugh on Glory’s side.

Fly to Jesus, and live.